


Mission Specs

by alafaye



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-27
Updated: 2013-08-27
Packaged: 2017-12-24 20:50:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/944507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alafaye/pseuds/alafaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a little mission that raises some uncomfortable topics.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mission Specs

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [love bingo](http://alafaye.livejournal.com/337489.html) and the prompt 'marriage of convenience'. (I think this fits?)

"And these are your identities," Phil continued, handing them their documents.

Clint opened his and raised his eyebrows at the marriage certificate inside. "Married?"

"To me," Nat added. Her eyebrows pinched together. "Why did he get the certificate?"

Phil shrugged. "I only accepted the folders. Take it up with the department if it upsets you."

She let it go--for now. Clint knew her well enough to know that when the mission was over, she would be combing through all past cases where two agents had been wed for a mission to find the statistics. And if they weren't to her liking, well, someone was going to get an earful.

"This is a first," he said instead of pointing out the obvious. "I thought we were considered an unlikely couple on missions."

"You don't fit, this is true," Phil agreed. "But again, I only accepted the folders. I suspect, however, that your marriage is down to the conservative, old fashioned nature of our target."

"Mission goal?" she asked, clearly suspicious.

Clint listened with half an ear to look through the first packet he'd been given. "Infiltrate the house to obtain access to the network; download what you can," Phil recited. "He's the information keeper for a weapons cartel that has been given our allies a problem."

"Simple information retrieval," Nat sighed. "Phil, we're not new agents. This is an easy job."

"I'm sorry," Phil said. "Ever since Loki, no one will trust Clint with higher missions and you have refused to work with anyone else."

"I did that because I hoped it would get him something better than this," she told him. "Not to downgrade us both."

Phil crossed his arms. "I'm trying. I really am. But we're all of us in a sticky spot. No one trusts a guy who supposedly died, no one trusts a guy who was compromised, and no one will trust a woman who appears to be jeopardized by her emotions."

Nat squared her shoulders and narrowed her eyes. "By my emotions?"

Clint winced. He'd heard that tone before and it never ended well. Trying to stop the rant that was surely coming, he cleared his throat. "Need I remind you both that the way to win back their trust is not to whine about the missions you are given? We have to show we're willing to cooperate with them and in the mean time, wait for Fury to convince them otherwise."

She pursed her lips, but said nothing though he knew she wanted to. After all, because Fury was the one to report Clint's death, no one trusted him much either. The old guard was falling back as their actions came back to haunt them. Clint knew that this wasn't likely to end well. But a mission was a mission and at least they had one.

"In the mean time, let's get this intel," Clint said. "When we get back, maybe the three of us can decide what we want to do."

"As in leave SHIELD?" Nat asked.

Clint shrugged and tucked his folder under his arm. "Let's go."

~~~

"What did Phil mean when he said I appeared to be compromised by my emotions?" Natasha asked in the car, weeks later. They finally had an in with their target and were on their way to some intimate dinner party. Their plan was to attend and while Clint distracted the party with charm, Nat would slip away to get the intel.

"You left your mission when Phil told you I had been taken," Clint told her. "And then you refuse to work with anyone else."

She clucked her tongue. "I've seen most of them do the same."

"Double standards?" he offered. "I know it isn't right, but it happens."

"It's because I'm Russian," she muttered. "Likely. I know how deeply it still runs through the company."

"Based on recent intel, I doubt the cold war ended," he told her.

She huffed and let the topic drop. He wished he could assure her better, but theirs had never been such a relationship. Nat did not like to be babied or coddled. She liked cold truth and brutal honesty; he could only give her both and hang on for the ride. He wouldn't have it any other way.

"Phil is upset," she said moments later.

Not that Clint hadn't noticed, but he couldn't figure out why. "And?"

"Mission specs. We've never been married before."

"As you pointed out, yes."

"He feels left out."

Oh. Obvious. Clint's hand tightened on the wheel; he should have seen that one. As unlikely a couple as he and Nat were, adding Phil in just made them a dysfunctional relationship all around. But a marriage--no matter that it was only for a mission, it pointed out some rather interesting facts about them and their future. They wouldn't get married--they weren't those sort of people--but even if they did, well, they couldn't. Maybe some wiccan would have a ceremony for them, but marriage was two people. Not three.

"Well, we'll just have to make it up to him after," he said finally.

"I rather like that you don't need reassuring," she remarked, though only in jest. None of them would change the other. Phil might need more than either Clint or Nat, but they liked that about him. 

"That's me, the messed up circus kid," Clint joked.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, but fondly.

~~~

Clint winced as the needle pulled. "Easy there. No numbing, remember?" He was allergic so he should be used to the pain, but it was always somehow fresh each time.

The nurse said nothing, but did go easier. Clint's eyes turned to Nat where she was standing across from him, arms crossed and glaring at something. She had only a few bruises, but clearly the fact that their target had plenty of training had slipped through did not settle well with her. It didn't sit easy either for Clint--Phil had gotten caught in the crossfire when he'd gone in after them and was currently in a separate room, having his wrist put into a cast.

But they had gotten their intel and without the target knowing. The target had thought he'd caught Nat before she got it when in fact it was after and even better, their target had thought it had been an inside job, from the ring. It would likely mean a messy time for the ring and whichever ally was having trouble with them, but at least SHIELD now had the intel and could pass it on.

And given their injuries, they all had two days of time away. Two days Clint and Nat could spend reassuring Phil. It was pretty nice present for the trouble they had had.

"You're smiling," Nat muttered with a glare now directed at Clint. "I thought you were in pain."

The nurse finished the stitching and stepped back. "Wait here for the doctor to come by and give you your discharge paperwork."

Clint nodded and sat back against the pillows. "Am in pain. But we have two days with Phil."

Nat sighed and rolled her eyes. "Men."

Clint shrugged. He didn't care. Or maybe that was just the pain killers. Still. "Two days, Nat."

She shook her head. "I'm going to check on him. Don't leave without me."

He nodded and watched her go. Left alone until the doctor came in, he began thinking of various ways that they could spend their two days. It was pleasant exercise that he couldn't wait to put into action.


End file.
